Kazuhide Tomonaga

Kazuhide Tomonaga (友永 和秀 , Tomonaga Kazuhide , born April 28, 1952) is a Japanese director, animator, storyboarder, and cartoonist. he has worked at Toei Animation, Group TAC, Oh! Production, and TMS Entertainment. He is currently a director at Telecom Animation Film Company (a subsidiary of TMS). He is a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). His style inspired another famous animator, Naotoshi Shida [ja] .

He is best known for his work on the Lupin the Third franchise; other works he is known for include Galaxy Express 999, Castle in the Sky, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, Mazinger Z, Space Battleship Yamato, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, Sonic X, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the intro to Inspector Gadget, and the video game Kingdom Hearts.

After graduating high school, he spent six months in Osaka working as a salaryman before moving to Tokyo.

Tomonaga made his start in animation in 1972 with the animated adaption of Devil Man. During his time at Tiger Production while under animator Takeshi Shirato [ja] , Tomonaga worked on the anime Mazinger Z and Space Battleship Yamato. He then worked at Oh! Production while Komatsubara Kazuo was drawing director, and worked on a number of anime including UFO Robo Glendizer, Magnerobo Ga Keen, and Superhuman Squadron Baratak. He was primarily responsible for the base drawings for Toei Doga's robot anime. In 1979, Tomonaga moved from Oh! Production to Telecom Animation. In 1980, he made his debut as an animation director with the movie Sugata Sanshirou. Since then, he has worked on both international and domestic works for Telecom Animation Film Company, as well as for their parent company TMS Entertainment.

He has received particularly positive critical reception on a number of scenes which include the battleship Yamato flashback scene for the 1974 TV animation Space Battleship Yamato, as well as the Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster. Other well-received moments are the car chase in the 1979 Telecom Animation anime movie Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, as well as the battle scene against the Arcadia in the climax of the animated film Galaxy Railway 999.[10]

In 1984, Tomonaga co-produced with Yoshifumi Kondo the three and a half-minute pilot for Little Nemo, which earned him recognition in the American animation industry,[11][12] with some saying the pilot was one of his masterpieces.[13]

According to fellow animator Yasuo Otsuka, Tomonaga is highly regarded for his skill with action, such as a strong sense of movement and skill with mechanical objects.[14] Animator Yoshinori Kaneda worked with Tomonaga on Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Railway 999, and said of Tomonaga that he was "both a friend and a rival".

Production for the TV animation series Sherlock Hound began in 1982, with Tomonaga as animation director. Director Hayao Miyazaki modeled the appearance of the character Todd on Tomonaga[15]

Tomonaga worked on the show openings for Inspector Gadget and Batman: The Animated Series through TMS. He was also an animation supervisor for the video game Kingdom Hearts through Telecom Animation Film Company. He also contributed to a number of Studio Ghibli films when Telecom Animation Film Company was hired by Ghibli for animation support. he was also the animation director, one of the key animators, and even Directed the episode "The Arrogant Palm of a Small Human" on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood when, once again, Bones, the studio behind the series, hired Telecom Animation Film Company for animation support.

In 2016, Tomonaga was awarded an Animation Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th Japanese Movie Critics Awards.[16]